A Rest on their Laurels
by GravityNeko
Summary: Three-months after the Battle on Coruscant, Han, Luke, and Leia finally get a deserved rest-or do they?


**A/N: So, this had been in the works...lifeofstarwars knows about this...Due to the upcoming book Crucible (Okay when I say upcoming I mean Feb'13)...anyway due to that book I decided to write this...Enjoy!**

**.**

The three noted Heroes of the Rebellion sat around the common table, relaxed for the first time in awhile. It had been three months after the battle on Coruscant and they found themselves lazing about drinking hot drinks and set to reminiscing about the past—a past time said to often be practiced by people far past their prime. Han, Luke and, Leia were perfect examples of such beings, but no one would think to call them (Force forbid) …elderly. It would be more accurate to call them well-matured and experienced—as they were such.

Han was the first one to break the silence, "Ever think we'd be around to see all this."

Leia and Luke looked up in tandem, glancing at him curiously.

"I mean through all we've been through." He leaned back in his seat and drunk his hot Whiskey cider.

"I hear you..." Luke nodded and set down his mug of hot chocolate, folding his hands under his chin. "It has been quite a while and quite a ride—seems like only yesterday we were battling through the Death Star."

"Which I was against, Junior."

Luke made a displeased face at the hated moniker.

"Sorry, but that look on your face is always worth it." Han smirked.

Leia looked endearingly toward her brother. "Well, I'm always grateful someone had a heart back then..."

Luke grinned shyly, saying, "You're welcome." and sipped his drink.

"I came with him." Han defended.

"Only after you were promised money."

"And yet…here I am, Princess."

The younger man rolled his eyes. He laughed inwardly to himself. At his age he could hardly be called young anymore. Yes, he was Han's junior by ten years, but nineteen he was not anymore.

"What's got you grinning like a fool?" Han inquired, and Leia turned her attention to him as well.

"Just thinking how long it's actual been….Forty some years hasn't it been?"

"Are you asking because your memories going bad?"

Luke frowned.

Han grinned.

Leia smiled. "It has, hasn't it? I remember when you two first showed up on the detention level." She mused, a note of wonder in her voice as she fiddled with a cloth napkin. "Luke was incredibly sweet and well-meaning, but granted, I also thought he was a tad bit short for a stormtrooper." A twinkle entered her eyes. "..whereas you were the complete opposite, Han Solo. You were brash and self-centered and insensitive. You annoyed me the first time you opened your mouth."

"Ouch."

Luke added, "Cocky. Don't forget cocky."

"Almost forgot. Thank you, big brother."

"Hey, you two weren't any picnic either…This kid..." Han thumbed in Luke's direction. "Had a mouth as big a crater and was annoyingly reckless—thought he was gonna get me killed…And you…you had the gall to insult me the first time you met me. Face it, Honey, you were hardly a people pleaser…"

"By people he means _him_." Luke said with another grin.

Leia glared at him. "Keep talking, Flyboy, and you know exactly where this is going."

He cast a beseeching look to Luke. "See, what I have to deal with after ALL these years."

"Don't look at me, I'm not and will NEVER get in the middle of you and Leia." Luke shook his head. "It goes against my sanity policy."

"What sanity?" Han snorted. "Last time I checked, sane people didn't do half the crap you've done…"

"And you were right behind me, Han, every step of the way, or is my memory failing me?

I mean, it must be because the great Han Solo thinks so."

Han shook a finger at him. "Only because you needed someone to pull your butt out of the fire constantly."

Luke shook his head and took another drink of his hot chocolate.

A silence fell over the table.

Han finally spoke again, "Yep, forty years. Let's face it; we're just a bunch of old foggies."

"I thought you said you weren't old." Luke responded.

"I lied."

Leia frowned.

"Uh-oh…" Luke chuckled. "I don't think Leia liked that."

Han cast his wife a sympathetic look. "Sorry, Princess, but it's the truth."

"I know." A braid of grey-laced brown hair slipped over her shoulder. "I was just thinking…where did that nineteen year old Alderaanian princess go."

Han wrapped an arm around Leia's shoulders. "She didn't go anywhere, Sweetheart. She just got older and wiser…and a hell of a lot more beautiful."

"Nice save." Luke muttered.

"Hey, just goes to show you aging isn't all bad. It also made me a lot wiser too." Han quipped.

"I suppose even you can get that right..." Leia said agreeably, and leaned into her husband's shoulder.

They watched as Luke made a wiggle motion from across the table, appearing to be stretching

"Problem, Kid?" Han raised an eyebrow.

"Just getting old I guess..." Luke gave a little laugh. "I remember there were times I could sleep in an X-wing for hours on end. Now, if I sit too long at a table…"

"Now, who's old again?"

"Be quiet, Han." Leia admonished. "You just said we all were."

"True, Sweetheart, but I'm _not_ the one running myself ragged these past forty years." He grinned. "I'll give you one guess who that is."

Luke rolled his eyes, ignoring his friend.

"Han. Luke. Let's not go this way shall we?"

Luke shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't start anything. He did."

Leia frowned unhappily.

"_You're_ not making it any better."

Han was grinning, and Leia caught notice of this.

"What are you smiling for, Han?"

"Just thinkin'. Usually it was Leia and I that were arguing. Back then you and Luke got along like two peas in a pod. I was always kind of jealous of him…"

"Han, that was so obvious even a blind Gamorrean could see that." Luke stated blithely.

"Then you had to go and kiss him."

Luke groaned and covered his face. "Can we _not _bring that up?"

Han continued, "As I recall, you were _very _smug after that kiss."

Luke remained silent.

"What's wrong, Farmboy? Don't have any smart remark to make?"

"Han, stop it." Leia demanded. "Can't you see you're embarrassing him?"

"If you would have stepped up your game, maybe she wouldn't have _had _to." Luke finally said, flippantly. "Of course by Hoth I already had a feeling you were both nuts about each other."

"Speaking of short-comings, let's talk about one smart-aleck Jedi's little trip called "A Journey to Byss", Mister I-have-to-save-everyone-cause-obviously-no-one-else-can."

Luke arched a brow. "Really, Han? Nothing original to bring up?"

Han made a face.

"Han, Luke…" Leia's tone now held a warning.

Han threw his hands up in the air.

"Can we just talk about old times?" Leia pleaded. "Without bringing up painful memories…Please?"

"I can if Han will…"

"Sure, why not?"

Leia smiled. "Good." She took a drink of her cider. "Luke's right though, Han."

"He is?"

"Mmmhmm." She set the cup down. "These wars have taken a toll on all three of us."

"I'm fine." Han insisted.

"Right." Luke said dryly. "And I'm the prince of the galaxy."

"I can still fly pretty krffin' well."

"I haven't lost my touch either."

"Oh, great, it's time to play whose ship is bigger." Leia groaned.

"Luke would lose."

"Han, my friend." Luke said, leaning forward. "Everyone knows it's not the size that counts, its how you use it."

"I am NOT hearing this." Leia covered her ears.

Han's jaw dropped. "I _**cannot**_believe you just said that. The Grand Master of the Order… is nothing but a….dirty old man."

"Takes one to know one." Luke grinned and took another drink.

"Again…another subject I'd rather not listen to." Leia got up and reached for a flask in the middle of the table. "I suddenly need a drink."

"But you have one." Han pointed out.

"A real one." Leia returned, shaking Han's whiskey.

She added it to her cider and began to drink.

"See what you've done? You turned your sister into a lush."

"What I did?" Luke snorted.

"That kind of conversation just conjures disturbing thoughts." She swirled the liquid in her glass.

Silence reigned once more.

"I may have taken long time with Leia, but you and Mara took the cake…everyone could see it but you two. Two of the most clueless people I've ever met."

Luke dismissed this with a flip of his hand.

"Yes, Han, but you're forgetting one important thing." Leia interrupted.

"What?"

"She wanted to kill me remember." Luke reminded the older man.

Han snorted.

"After that. What was your excuse after that?"

"Mara needed time, you know that." He stared into his hot chocolate. "I wanted to be her friend but I wanted her to make that decision."

"She _was _really something." Han agreed. "She was still stuck in her shell, but she helped save the twins…" Han's voice trailed off.

Everyone knew what had stopped his train of thought—Jacen.

"And during the Hand of Thrawn matter." Leia added.

Han smiled. "We never did get a break did we?"

"No..." Luke shook his head. "It was a constant battle. Once we thought we'd put down Thrawn and Jorus C'boath and the Imperial Remnant, another evil would rear its ugly head."

Han slunk down in his seat. "Then we finally got a break when we signed a treaty with the Empire."

"Or so we thought." Leia took a sip.

Luke nodded. "In came the Yuuzhan Vong and threw everything into hell." He canted his head back. "In fact, that war almost tore the Order apart. It was so new, and still struggling."

"We lost a lot of people." Leia murmured.

"In every war we lost people, Sweetheart."

"Nothing like that." She contradicted. "Half the Order…thousands of citizens and planets." She paused. "And Anakin…"

Silence.

"Yeah…Anakin." Han murmured.

Luke shook his head. "He doesn't have to be a sad thought every time we think of him, though. Even Anakin wouldn't want to see us like this." He turned to face his sister and brother-in-law. "Do you remember what Anakin said, Leia, when he spoke to me at the Lake of Apparitions?"

Leia nodded. "He said, just because one light had gone out wasn't a reason for the Order to falter—that every Jedi must be a light to themselves…"

"Exactly."

"That war was hard on all of us. It took more than Anakin though...it took Chewie too." Leia remarked. "And Jacen…"

"Yes..." Luke heaved a sigh. "None of us could help Jacen; what happened to him was out of our hands after his time with the Yuzzhan Vong. I finally realized that during the last battle." He clasped his hands. "Though through all the terrible goings on in that war..I still had a reason not to give up…not to lose hope.."  
Leia smiled. "Ben."

"Yes, the most important part of my life….has been him." He sighed and leaned back. "..even with the walls closing in around me…and everything looking doomed to fail. Ben was the hope that kept his mother and I pushing for tomorrow. We had to protect him, had to make the galaxy a safe place for him."

Leia wiped tears from her eyes. "We all would have done anything to spare our children that war."

"But they were Jedi…so what could we do." Han said with a shrug.

Leia took Han's hand in her own, smiling at her husband before looking to her brother again.

"I remember when you first told us Mara was pregnant...it was quite a shock…" Leia commented, stroking Han's fingers.

Luke nodded. "If I remember correctly you were slightly peeved with me." He shrugged. "But it was hardly my decision…I think Mara would have done me bodily harm if I had let out a peep. Plus you would have known once she started to show."

"Didn't you say she would vape you if you got her pregnant again?" Han asked.

"Uh-huh."

Han chuckles at the thought.

"I had no doubt she'd make good on her threat, pregnancy notwithstanding." Luke smiled thoughtfully. "She _was_ beautiful when she was pregnant though."

"Somehow I doubt she felt that way." Leia said.

"Yes, she said her ankles were swelling up like a Gamorrean sows. I think that was around the time she also insulted my wardrobe."

"What wardrobe?" Han scoffed. "You had the fashion sense of Kowakian monkey-lizard. It was only because of Mara you stopped wearing black."

Leia rolled her eyes.

"Now, it's all brown and tan." Han made a sound like he was snoring. "Boooring."

"Mind you my fashion sense did get better." Luke retorted.

"I doubt the bad guys cared what you were wearing, Brother."

Han snorted once more. "Yeah, as long as you were dead you coulda been wearing pink jumpsuit with white polka dots."

"Oh, I'm sure that would have gone over real well."

"Would been a good distraction for the Kiliks." Leia admitted.

"Let's NOT talk about the bugs."

"Yes, Leia, let's not torment Han with big bad bug talk. The almighty smuggler's afraid."

"I wasn't afraid of those bugs, they just creepd me out."

"Sure, Han." Leia patted his arm.

Ben Skywalker entered the room just then.

Han looked up with a relieved look on his face.

"Ben, can you tell your aunt and your dad to stop ganging up on me. For Jedi you think they'd have a little more compassion."

Luke took on a confused look. "Jedi, what Jedi…Leia, do you see any Jedi around here?"

"Nope, just a princess and a farmboy."

"Hah hah, very funny. Make fun at the ex-smuggler's expense."

"But it's so easy." Leia stated.

"You two…you're horrible." Han glared at Luke. "You especially, Farmboy."

He gave an innocent look.

"Oh, don't try that."

"But I didn't do anything." He said, trying to hide a smile.

It was Ben's turn to roll his eyes. "Great, I've stepped into some alternate universe where parents act stupid."

"We're old…what do you expect?" Han asked caustically.

"So getting older equals…act like an idiot. Makes sense." He turned away. "So next time I do something stupid you can't scold me for it."

"That only applies to beings past the age of sixty." Luke corrected.

"Oh. Well stang." He muttered as he left.

"Still think we can leave the galaxy to the younger generation, old buddy?"

Luke drained his hot chocolate. "Maybe we'll stay active just a bit longer."

"Good call."

**.**

**A/N: Hope this entertained. Don't forget to review if you enjoyed it!**


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